The competition watchdog alleges that Clorox represented that its GLAD Kitchen Tidy Bags and Garbage Bags were comprised of 50 per cent recycled ‘ocean plastic’ collected from an ocean or sea, when that was not the case.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) notes that it alleges that these GLAD kitchen and garbage bags were instead “partly made from plastic that was collected from communities in Indonesia up to 50 kilometres from a shoreline, and not from the ocean or sea.”

“We allege that the headline 'ocean plastic' statements and wave imagery on the GLAD bag packaging, and the use of blue coloured bags, created the impression that these GLAD bags were made from plastic waste collected from the ocean or sea, when this was not the case,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

“We are concerned that, by its alleged conduct, Clorox deprived consumers of the opportunity to make informed purchasing decisions, and may have put other businesses making genuine environmental claims at an unfair disadvantage.”

“This action reflects our enforcement priority to take action against businesses making false or misleading environmental claims. Increasingly consumers choose the products they buy based on their environmental impact, and in doing so they must be able to rely on the environmental claims made by businesses being accurate,” Cass-Gottlieb added.

The ACCC notes that both of these products were reportedly withdrawn from supply to retailers from July 2023.

Here is the full report by the ACCC.